1. Technical Field
This application generally relates to computer systems, and more particularly to providing selective access to computer system storage devices.
2. Description of Related Art
Computer systems may include different resources that may be used by one or more host processors. Resources and host processors in a computer system may be interconnected by one or more communication connections. These resources may include, for example, data storage devices such as the Symmetrix™ family of data storage systems manufactured by EMC Corporation. These data storage systems may be coupled to one or more host processors and provide storage services to each host processor. An example data storage system may include one or more data storage devices, such as those of the Symmetrix™ family, that are connected together and may be used to provide common data storage for one or more host processors in a computer system. An example of operation and management of a data storage system is the Symmetrix data storage system as described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,819,310, Vishlitzky et al., entitled “Method and Apparatus for Reading Data from Mirrored Logical Volumes on Physical Drives”, issued Oct. 6, 1998, which is herein incorporated by reference, U.S. Pat. No. 5,592,432, entitled “Cache Management System Using Time Stamping for Replacement Queue”, issued Jan. 7, 1997, Vishlitzky et al., which is herein incorporated by reference, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,381,539, issued on Jan. 10, 1995, entitled “System and Method for Dynamically Controlling Cache Management”, Yanai et al., which is herein incorporated by reference, all of which are assigned to EMC Corporation of Hopkinton, Mass.
A host processor may perform a variety of data processing tasks and operations using the data storage system. For example, a host processor may perform basic system I/O operations, such as data read and write operations and also administrative tasks, such as data backup and mirroring operations. When accessing particular devices included in a data storage system, a device may not know what generated a particular access. For example, a device may not be able to distinguish whether a disk access is being performed in connection with a legitimate I/O operation, or in connection with a software virus program attempting to fill-up a disk with data from needless and/or destructive operations. This may cause problems, for example, in that valuable data may be corrupted, lost or inaccessible disrupting operations in a computer system.
An example of remotely accessing devices is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,101,497 to Ofek, issued Aug. 8, 2000, entitled “Method and Apparatus for Independent and Simultaneous Access to a Common Data Set”, which is herein incorporated by reference, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,206,939, issued Apr. 27, 1993, Yanai et al., entitled “System and Method for Disk Mapping and Data Retrieval”, which is herein incorporated by reference, both of which are assigned to EMC Corporation of Hopkinton, Mass.
It may be desirable and advantageous to restrict access to particular devices included in a storage system. Additionally, it may be desirable that this technique be efficient and be compatible for use with existing standards.